We seek to expand lives through the experience of post-secondary education

We minimize difference

We support the community

We look for evidence of exclusion

We seek valued roles

Facilitation vs Personal Support

It can be challenging to think about 'our job' vs the job of a traditional role of personal support. The following are some examples, however because we are supporting individuals we must always think about what works for that person; there are no cut and dried 'we won't do that' or 'we don't do that' (unless the thing we are doing is 'putting them in a special classroom').

Example: A student is putting their hand up frequently in class to ask questions that are not necessarily relevant to the topic.

Traditional support: Attend class with the student and sit next to them to remind them.

Facilitation: Have a conversation with the professor about how to address it with the student, and give them some strategies for reinforcing this in the classroom. Emphasize that this is a process, explain the reasons why this might be happening. If necessary, ensure the other students understand where this is coming from for the student.

Example: A student has procrastinated on their assignment. The support recognizes that they will probably not get it done in time.

Traditional support: Hold the student accountable for handing in their assignment on time.

Facilitation: Discuss with the student what the consequences might be of handing their assignment in late. Talk through what they would need in order to hand it in on time. Support them through the fallout of handing the assignment in late. Support the professor to address it with them appropriately.

Video: Study shows social support most effective when provided "invisibly".

Think About:

What are the challenges of supporting students invisibly?

How does invisible support challenge stereotypes of developmental disability?

What are we willing to sacrifice in order to support invisibly? What are we not willing to sacrifice?

How can we make sure we don't get so caught up in the stresses of the day-to-day and remember that this is a process?

The distinction between personal support & facilitator often comes down to creativity. Beth Mount, who has been working with families to envision inclusion for more than 30 years, has drawn on the work of Otto Scharmer on "presencing" and the creative process.Process Steps

Co-Initiate: Think of working with students as a collaborative journey. Commit time, space, and energy to the process.

Presence: Connect to sources of inspiration and will; make space for students inner knowledge, symbols, archetypes, ways of communicating to become clear. Reflect on what we have learned and how much has changed as a result of the process.

Co-create: Fabricate and prototype ways for students to express what they have learned and hopes for their emerging futures. Experiment and re-vision until the image emerges fully. Try things, seize possibilities, adapt to limitations!

Co-evolve: Enter public spaces; network network network and practice telling the story of a students journey and dreams to inspire others to support them in their vision. Engage others in reflection, discovery, and response.

Throughout facilitating inclusion, we will meet people who are allies, potential allies and people who see things really, really differently from the way we do. For people who are potential allies or who see things really differently, we recognize that coming to a full understanding of inclusion and all its complexities will take many conversations over time. Sometimes, who is an ally and who is not is surprising, but we have found it beneficial to think about who in community might be an ally when making requests for employment or support for changes to 'the system.'

Example: When exploring employment for an alumni to seeking long-term in a classroom setting, we started by seeking out alternative schools who had the values of inclusion of all students as a part of their mandate as a school. However, we also started more long-term conversations with members of the school board who would have the ability to make changes to the hiring practices, or figure out ways around current policy, in order for her to have a valued role, but we recognize that this is a multi-year conversation.

Marsha Forrest, a leader in the Inclusion movement in Canada, suggests there are ten key things that will help to move our agenda forward. Being able to articulate the importance of some of these will be helpful when you are speaking to various stakeholders about inclusion and they have the moment of recognition that the perspective that we have for inclusion may challenge ways of thinking about disability in society. [Full article below and at: http://www.marshaforest.com/tenkeys.pdf]

Hard Conversations

Attitude: “Where inclusion has taken hold in Canada, there was always someone with the attitude that questioned why it was necessary to educate learners with disabilities in special settings.” Our role is not usually to be questioners, but to demonstrate the power of inclusion (and therefor the failures of exclusion).

Universal Access to Curriculum: “Where inclusion has succeeded in Canada, the curriculum is regarded as a tool, not as a controlling agent. It is viewed as flexible. It is to be attuned to an individual pace of learning. Students in the same classroom can learn together, though they may be at differing parts of the curriculum.” This is the purposes of students not taking courses for credit, so the curriculum is not controlling, and we are able to adapt and modify it to meet the needs of individual learners.

Collaboration: “Where the lesson of British poet John Donne that 'No man is an island, entire to itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main' has been learned in Canada, collaboration has been part of the process, and the roots of inclusion have taken firmer hold.” We tend to think of this as vitally important because if we are the only ones who care about the inclusion of the people we work for, things have a tendency to fall apart when we are not there. However, when we do our jobs well the person becomes part of the community in a natural way and everyone takes on the work of inclusion.

Leadership: “Leaders share leadership with others and more leaders arise. Leaders encourage leadership in others. Leaders expect leadership in others. Leaders see leadership in teachers, parents, other professionals, and in students. In Canada, where leaders have made no bones about the value they see in inclusion, the expectations they have for teachers, and the admiration and trust they have for parents, inclusion has flourished.” We are leaders of inclusion in the province, and by being strong in our belief of the power of inclusion we have great power to make change. Although we may have moments of fear and doubt and feelings of intense failure, there is value in showing leadership (honesty and confidence) about inclusion to others.

Respect: “Where inclusive education is successful, the desire and attempt to learn is respected, not the place on the curriculum where learning occurs for any individual. Where inclusive education is successful, all players are respected, whatever their role. Their right of choice is respected. Where inclusive education is successful, human rights, student rights, are respected.” We are lucky to be working in a post-secondary context, as students and staff see easily how their values of respect and human rights in other areas are applicable to people with developmental disabilities.

Learning is Learning: “Where inclusive education in Canada is successful, all learners are viewed as true learners, true learners at their own levels of ability. Learning more powerfully than most, as with students labeled gifted or talented is still learning. Learning more modestly than most, also, is still learning.” This is a powerful conversation to have with families and post-secondary staff. While we (as an organization) are not invested in what the students we support are learning, our job is to work with their professors to value their learning.

Teaching is Teaching: “Traditional belief regarding learners with disabilities is that they require special teaching and special settings within which to be taught. For them, the special education view is that teaching in ordinary ways and being taught by ordinary teachers is not sufficient. What I have seen in Canada, where I have seen successful inclusion, is that teaching is teaching. Teachers know how to teach. They know how to teach all learners. This does not mean that they know everything about how to teach all learners. It does mean that learners are more like other learners than they are different. It means that most of the ordinary techniques of teaching will work. And, remember that inclusive education is collaborative. Sometimes a regular teacher will need and benefit from the support of another teacher, professionals from other disciplines, from parents, or even from students.” In many ways, professors at the post-secondary level expect that if a student is choosing their course, they have an interest in it and they welcome the student. This is exciting, because the same is not always true at the high school level. This is one example of how the 'attitude' (inclusion is possible) will help to change lives.

Achievement: “In inclusive settings all learners are supported to master as much of the curriculum as they can. However, it is recognized that learners will master the curriculum at different rates. It is the act of learning which is meritorious, the act of putting forth effort, the moving forward and learning more. Every act of achievement is celebrated. This view of achievement troubles those who believe that one learner is superior to another based on amount of learning. It is as if a modest pace of learning is offensive. Inclusion values learning, supports every learner in achieving as much as possible, and understands that we all are different in our learning capacities and styles.” This is an important conversation when thinking about why the students we work for are completing their studies with only one or two courses per semester instead of 5, or that the students do not participate in all parts of the coursework in the same way as other students.

Determination: determination drives change. Sometimes, this work can be overwhelming. When this happens, we draw on each other for support.

Action.

In Forrest's article with Jack Pearpoint "Inclusion! The bigger picture" there is a fantastic exploration of why the act of 'including' someone who is different can be so intimidating for people who have never thought about it before. They suggest that it is discomforting for people because it "challenges our unexamined notions of what 'ordinary' and 'normal' really mean."

What they are saying is that when we see someone who has that difference, we have a conscious or unconscious moment of reflection in which we recognize that if faced with that kind of life-defining situation ourselves (through accident, or by giving birth to someone with a label, or simply through aging), we would be faced with a life of exclusion and segregation. This ties into the ideas of guilt that people often feel when exploring anti-oppressive practice for the first time.